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Middle High German (MHG, German ''Mittelhochdeutsch'') is the term used for the period in the history of the German Language between 1050 and 1350 . It is preceded by Old High German and followed by Early New High German . In some uses, the term covers a longer period, going up to 1500 .so defined by ISO 639-3 . VARIETIES Middle High German is not a unified written language and the term covers two main dialect areas:Hermann Paul, ''Mittelhochdeutsche Grammatik'', 23rd edition, revised by Peter Wiehl and Siegfried Grosse, Tübingen 1989, pp. 167ff.
While there is no ''standard'' MHG, the prestige of the Hohenstaufen court gave rise in the late 12th century to a supra-regional literary language (''mittelhochdeutsche Dichtersprache'') based on Swabian , an Alemannic dialect. However, the picture is complicated by the fact that modern editions of MHG texts have a tendency to use ''normalised'' spellings based on this variety (usually called "Classical MHG"), which make the written language appear more consistent than is actually the case in the manuscripts. It is uncertain whether the literary language reflected a supra-regional ''spoken'' language of the courts. An important development in this period was the Eastward Expansion of German settlement beyond the Elbe - Saale line which marked the limit of Old High German . This process started in the 11th century, and all the East Central German dialects are a result of this expansion. "Judeo-German" is the precursor of the Yiddish language which is attested in the 13th-14th centuries as a variety of Middle High German written in Hebrew characters. WRITING SYSTEM Middle High German texts are written in the Latin Alphabet , in Gothic Minuscule s that evolved into the Fraktur typefaces of the Early Modern period. Vowel length may be marked diacritically, with a circumflex. a, â (æ), b, d, e, ê, f, g, h, i, î (y), k (c, ch), l, m, n, o, ô, p, qu (=kw), r, s, t, u, û, v (f), w, z (c, cz, ʒ) ''z'' also appears as ''c'' before ''e'' and ''i''. After vowels it is weakened to ''ʒ'' ("weak ''z''", or "sharp ''s''", written as '' Geschwänztes Z '' "tailed ''z''"; also transcribed as '' ȥ '' "z with hook"), after short vowels geminating to ''ʒʒ'' (''haʒ'', genitive ''haʒʒes'' "hate"). This group from early times begins merging with ''ss'', ultimately the origin of the ß of Modern German orthography. There is also emerging use of '' J '' in Nuremberg , often in place of ''g''. The full development of the Germanic Umlaut was only completed in the course of the MHG period, and notation of umlauted vowels (Modern German ''ä, ö, ü'') and their notation emerges in the period after 1300, e.g. ''uohse'' "armpit" vs. ''üehse'' ( Wolkenstein 49.1.11). Note that the Umlaut Diacritic (the two dots) appear only in Early Modern German (around 1500). What in standard transliteration appears as ''üe'' in the manuscripts is usually written with a diacritic ''e'', viz. the transliteration ''güete'' ("goodness") renders ''guͤte''. GRAMMAR Pronouns Middle High German pronouns of the first person refer to the speaker; those of the second person refer to an addressed person. The Pronoun s of the third person may be used to replace nominal phrases. These have the same Gender , Number and Case as the original nominal phrase. This goes for other pronouns, too. Personal pronouns
Nouns Middle High German Nouns were declined according to four cases ( Nominative , Genitive , Dative , Accusative ), two numbers ( Singular and Plural ) and three genders ( Masculine , Feminine and Neuter ), much like Modern High German, though there are several important differences. Strong nouns Weak nouns Note that ë is a short, open /e/, so so MHG ''dër'' /dɜr/ as opposed to modern /de:r/. Articles Middle High German articles have a feature called "strength", which influences the declension of the adjectives. There are strong articles, weak articles, and articles that have strong and weak cases. Sometimes this feature is not constant in literature. The inflected forms depend on the number, the case and the gender of the corresponding noun. Articles have the same plural forms for all three genders. Definite article (strong) The Instrumental Case , only existing in the neuter singular, is used only with Preposition s: ''von diu'', ''ze diu'', etc. In all the other genders and in the plural it is substituted with the dative: ''von dëm'', ''von dër'', ''von dën''. Verbs Verbs were conjugated according to three moods ( Indicative , Subjunctive and Imperative ), three persons, two numbers ( Singular and Plural ) and two tenses ( Present Tense and Preterite Tense ) There was a present participle, a past participle and a verbal noun that somewhat resembles the Latin Gerund , but that only existed in the Genitive and Dative cases. An important distinction was made between Strong Verb s (that exhibited Ablaut ) and Weak Verb s (that didn't). Furthermore, there were also some irregular verbs. Strong verbs The Present Tense conjugation went as follows: Imperative: 2.sg: nim, 2.pl: nëmet Present participle: nëmente Infinitive: nëmen Verbal noun: ''Genitive'': nëmennes, ''dative'': ze nëmenne The bold vowels demonstrate Ablaut ; the vowels in brackets were dropped in rapid speech. The Preterite Tense conjugation went as follows: Past participle: genomen Weak verbs The Present Tense conjugation went as follows: Imperative: 2.sg: suoche, 2.pl: suochet Present participle: suochente Infinitive: suochen Verbal noun: ''Genitive'': suochennes, ''dative'': ze suochenne The vowels in brackets were dropped in rapid speech. The Preterite Tense conjugation went as follows: Past participle: gesuochet PERIODISATION There are several criteria which separate MHG from the preceding Old High German period:
Culturally, the two periods are distinguished by the transition from a predominantly clerical written culture to one centred on the courts of the great nobles. The Imperial court in Vienna and the rise of the Swabian Hohenstaufen and then the Habsburg dynasties make South Germany the dominant region in both political and cultural terms. Linguistically, the transition to Early New High German is marked by four vowel changes which together produce the phonemic system of modern German:
The centres of culture in the ENHG period are no longer the courts but the towns. PHONOLOGY The charts show the vowel and consonant systems of classical MHG. The spellings indicated are the standard spellings used in modern editions - there is much more variation in the manuscripts. Vowels Notes: # Not all dialects distinguish the three unrounded mid front vowels. # It is probable that the short high and mid vowels are lower than their long equivalents, as in Modern German, but this is impossible to establish from the written sources. # The Diphthongs MHG diphthongs are indicated by the spellings: Consonants #Precise information about the articulation of consonants is impossible to establish, and will have varied between dialects. #In the plosive and fricative series, where there are two consonants in a cell, the first is Fortis the second Lenis . The voicing of lenis consonants varied between dialects. #MHG has long consonants, and the following double consonant spellings indicate not vowel length as in Modern German orthography, but rather genuine double consonants: pp, bb, tt, dd, ck (for /kk/), gg, ff, ss, zz, mm, nn, ll, rr. #It is reasonable to assume that /x/ had an allophone {Link without Title} before back vowels, as in Modern German. SAMPLE TEXT From the prologue of Hartmann Von Aue 's ''Iwein'' (circa 1200; c.f. MS B (Giessen) , mid 13th c.)
This text shows many typical features of Middle High German poetic language. Most Middle High German words survive into modern German in some form or other: this passage contains only one word (''jehen'' 'say' 14) which has since disappeared from the language. But many words have changed their meaning substantially. ''Muot'' (6) means 'state of mind', where modern German ''Mut'' means courage. ''Êre'' (3) can be translated with 'honour', but is quite a different concept of honour from modern German ''Ehre''; the medieval term focusses on reputation and the respect accorded to status in society. LITERATURE See Also: Medieval German literature
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